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The promise of a social media scheduler is easy to like: write the week's posts on Sunday evening, then stop breaking off from dinner at 6pm to publish one. The surprises come later. An annual renewal lands months after you stopped logging in, the "scheduled" Instagram Story turns out to be a reminder on your phone, and a price that looked like a tenner is in dollars, per account, before VAT.
What is a social media scheduler?
A social media scheduler is a web app, usually with phone apps, where you connect your social accounts once, write posts in one place and put them on a calendar. The tool then publishes each post at the time you chose. Most also gather your stats in one dashboard, and the bigger ones add a shared inbox and approval steps for teams.
What shapes the bill is how each one charges: per connected account (
BufferBufferBuffer is a social media scheduler for planning, publishing and analysing posts across 12 networks, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky. It suits solo creatoBuying guide · View store →, Publer), per bundle of accounts (
PostizPostizPostiz is a social media scheduler that publishes to more than 30 networks from one calendar and lets AI agents such as Claude and ChatGPT draft and schedule posts through its MCP Buying guide · View store →, Later, Metricool, SocialBee) or per person using it (Hootsuite, Sprout Social).
Why is everyone looking for Hootsuite alternatives?
Mostly because the tool many small businesses started on stopped being free. Hootsuite ended its free plan on 31 March 2023, telling free users to stop or move to a paid plan starting at $99 a month (The Canadian Press, February 2023). In October 2026 its cheapest plan is $99 per user a month billed annually, and Zapier's reviewer notes that the cheapest plan "has more than doubled in price" (Zapier, 2026).
In the UK, "social media scheduling tools" is searched about 590 times a month, "hootsuite alternatives" about 170, "buffer alternatives" about 90 and "best social media scheduler" about 70 (Google Keyword Planner, October 2026). Advertisers pay around £24 a click on the first, a sign of how hard the vendors compete for your business.
What does it cost, and what's the catch?
For one small business posting to three accounts, say Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, a year in October 2026 costs roughly:
Nothing
on
Buffer
's
free plan
, on
Metricool's
if you can do without LinkedIn, or on
Meta Business Suite
for the Facebook and Instagram part
$144
on
Publer
Professional or
$180
on Buffer Essentials, billed yearly
€192
on Metricool Starter,
$225
on
Later
Starter or
$276
on
Postiz
Standard
, billed yearly
$948
on
Sprout Social
Essentials or
$1,188
on
Hootsuite
Standard, per person, billed yearly
None of these vendors showed prices in pounds when checked: they bill in US dollars or euros, with VAT on top. The catch most people miss is the contract: the big names sell on annual billing, and their worst reviews are mostly about renewals.
The short answer: If you only post to Facebook and Instagram, Meta Business Suite schedules posts and Stories, and Meta lists no price for it. For one to three accounts across more networks, BufferBufferBuffer is a social media scheduler for planning, publishing and analysing posts across 12 networks, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky. It suits solo creatoBuying guide · View store →'s free plan is the low-risk start, with Essentials at $5 per channel a month billed yearly in October 2026. Metricool has the best free plan for stats, Publer is the cheapest with approvals, and PostizPostizPostiz is a social media scheduler that publishes to more than 30 networks from one calendar and lets AI agents such as Claude and ChatGPT draft and schedule posts through its MCP Buying guide · View store → suits teams and agencies who want unlimited teammates (10 channels for $31 a month billed yearly). Hootsuite and Sprout Social are for marketing teams with a budget per person. More options are on our social media tools page.
The schedulers side by side
The table sets out each tool's free plan and cheapest paid plan in October 2026, in the currency the vendor bills in, before VAT.
| Tool | Free plan | Cheapest paid | Priced by | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Business Suite | No price listed | No paid plan listed | Not listed | Facebook and Instagram only |
| BufferBufferBuffer is a social media scheduler for planning, publishing and analysing posts across 12 networks, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky. It suits solo creatoBuying guide · View store → | 3 channels, 10 queued posts each | $5 a channel a month, yearly | Channel | 1 to 5 accounts |
| Metricool | 1 brand, 20 posts a month, no LinkedIn or X | €16 a month, yearly (5 brands) | Brand | Free stats |
| Publer | 3 accounts (not X), 10 queued posts each | $4 an account a month, yearly | Account | Cheap approvals |
| PostizPostizPostiz is a social media scheduler that publishes to more than 30 networks from one calendar and lets AI agents such as Claude and ChatGPT draft and schedule posts through its MCP Buying guide · View store → | Self-hosted only | $23 a month, yearly (5 channels) | Bundle | Teams and agencies |
| Later | None | $18.75 a month, yearly | Social set | Instagram-led planning |
| SocialBee | None | $290 a year (5 profiles) | Bundle | Recycling evergreen posts |
| Sprout Social | None | $79 a seat a month, yearly | Person | Teams with a budget |
| Hootsuite | None since 2023 | $99 a user a month, yearly | Person | Teams needing listening |
The number of accounts you post to decides which pricing model comes out cheapest. I'll share what readers say once enough people have answered.
Is Meta Business Suite enough on its own?
For a shop, café or salon that only posts to Facebook and Instagram, often yes. Meta says Business Suite manages Facebook, Messenger and Instagram in one place and lets you "create or schedule posts, stories and ads" (Meta), and its page lists no price or subscription. It stops at Meta's own apps, though: no TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Pinterest or Google Business Profile. Once your customers are on any of those, a scheduler starts to earn its keep.
Buffer: the simplest cheap scheduler for one to five accounts
BufferBufferBuffer is a social media scheduler for planning, publishing and analysing posts across 12 networks, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky. It suits solo creatoBuying guide · View store → is here because its free plan is real and its paid plans charge per channel, so a sole trader with two or three accounts pays little. The free plan covers three channels, one user and 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time (the queue refills as posts go out), with 30 days of stats and an AI assistant. It covers 12 networks, including Threads, Bluesky and Google Business Profile (Buffer).
The 10-post queue is the limit you'll hit first: a month of daily posts fills it in under a fortnight. Essentials lifts the cap for $5 per channel a month billed yearly, or $6 monthly, in October 2026. Team is $10 per channel yearly or $12 monthly, with unlimited users and approvals at no per-person charge. Charities get 50% off.
Zapier picked Buffer for "dead simple scheduling", while warning of its "history of changing up its pricing and features" (Zapier, 2026). It scores 4.5 from 1,492 reviews on Capterra UK (October 2026).
Who it suits: sole traders, creators and small charities with one to five accounts who want phone apps and a free start.
Less suited to: agencies with many accounts (10 channels on Team is $120 a month billed monthly) and anyone needing deep reporting.
Metricool: the best free plan if you want the numbers
Metricool, a Spanish scheduler and analytics tool priced per "brand", is here for its free plan: one brand, 20 scheduled posts a month, 30 days of analytics and five competitor profiles, on every network except LinkedIn and X (Metricool).
Starter costs €16 a month billed yearly (€20 monthly) for five brands in October 2026, which suits a freelancer with a few clients. X is a $10-a-month add-on per account, and approvals start on Advanced at €43 a month billed yearly. Zapier's reviewer picked it for analytics but found that "pure scheduling takes a bit of a back seat".
UK creator Jade Beason tours the planner's best-times heat map and Canva import in a 2026 video that Metricool sponsored, as she says, so it's a demo rather than a review.
Not every user is happy: in a 2024 r/socialmedia thread, an agency user who liked its reports said they were leaving over bugs and slow support. Overall it scores 4.0 from 677 reviews on Trustpilot.
Who it suits: creators and single-brand businesses who want stats on a free plan, and freelancers with a handful of clients.
Less suited to: anyone who lives on LinkedIn or X, since neither is on the free plan.
Publer: the cheapest way to add approvals
Publer earns its place by letting a client or assistant approve posts without the cost of a full extra seat. Its free plan covers three accounts (not X), 10 scheduled posts per account and one user, but keeps published posts for only 24 hours.
Professional costs $4 per account a month billed yearly in October 2026, with each extra team member $1.60; Business is $8 per account and adds analytics, best posting times and an API. Publer says existing subscribers' prices are never raised while they stay subscribed, and charities get 50% off, though it asks for proof such as a US 501(c)(3), so UK charities are best asking what it accepts. Its ratings are the best here: 4.9 from 1,044 reviews on Trustpilot and 4.8 from 978 on Capterra UK.
Who it suits: budget-conscious businesses and freelancers who need sign-off from a client or colleague.
Less suited to: anyone who needs X on a free plan.
Postiz: flat bundles for teams, agencies and AI agents
PostizPostizPostiz is a social media scheduler that publishes to more than 30 networks from one calendar and lets AI agents such as Claude and ChatGPT draft and schedule posts through its MCP Buying guide · View store → is here because its plans are bundles of channels with unlimited teammates from the Team plan up, and because it's open source. Hosted, Standard is $23 a month billed yearly ($29 monthly) for five channels and no teammates, and Team is $31 yearly ($39 monthly) for 10 channels and unlimited members, in October 2026 (AdPostiz). There's no free hosted plan, only a seven-day trial.
For a three-person team the sums change quickly: three people on Hootsuite Standard means three seats at $99 each, while on Postiz Team all three share one $31 plan. It lists more than 30 networks, and a hosted MCP server lets AI assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT draft posts that land in the calendar for a person to approve (AdPostiz).
The free self-hosted edition takes real work. Postiz's GitHub page says you set up Postgres, Redis and storage yourself and register a developer app with each network, and that Meta, YouTube and TikTok approvals can take weeks; one commenter in the 2024 r/selfhosted launch thread called the install "overcomplicated". DB Tech's independent video shows what's involved.
The review base is thin: 3.6 from 11 reviews on Trustpilot in October 2026, including a one-star review about a cancellation that kept billing for three months. Its Adprivacy policy applies UK GDPR to a business run from Hong Kong and the US. Developers who want posting inside their own app have a different option in 
ZernioZernioZernio, formerly called Late, is an API that lets developers and AI agents post, schedule, read analytics, answer messages and run ads across 16 social networks from one integratioBuying guide · View store →, an API rather than a calendar, with the first two accounts free (Zernio).
Who it suits: freelancers and agencies juggling five to 100 accounts, teams who don't want to pay per person, and anyone posting through an AI agent.
Less suited to: non-technical owners who want a free plan, phone apps or a long review record.
What happened to Hootsuite, and is it still worth it?
Hootsuite is the incumbent all-in-one suite, and in 2026 it's priced for marketing teams. Standard is $99 per user a month billed annually for up to 10 accounts, Professional $199 with unlimited accounts and Advanced $399 with approval workflows, in US dollars before tax; every extra person is another seat. The money buys an inbox, brand monitoring and nine networks (Hootsuite), and the 14-day trial needs no card.
In a January 2024 r/socialmedia thread, a small business owner said Hootsuite had raised their plan from $80 to $150 a month; replies pointed to Metricool and BufferBufferBuffer is a social media scheduler for planning, publishing and analysing posts across 12 networks, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky. It suits solo creatoBuying guide · View store →, and one user who had moved to Buffer called it "just the same product".
Who it suits: marketing teams who need listening, inbox routing and approvals in one place.
Less suited to: sole traders and small businesses, at $1,188 a year per user before VAT.
Later, Sprout Social and SocialBee in brief
Later is an Instagram-first visual planner priced by "social set" (one each of eight networks, without X, Bluesky or Google Business Profile), from $18.75 a month billed yearly or $25 monthly in October 2026. Sprout Social is the premium per-seat suite at $79 per seat a month billed yearly; Zapier praised its human support but added that "you can probably hire an agency to run your social media for the same amount". SocialBee sorts posts into categories and recycles evergreen ones, from $290 a year for five profiles.
Does "scheduled" mean the tool posts it for you?
Not always. Some posts can only be finished inside the app, so the scheduler sends a reminder to your phone instead. BufferBufferBuffer is a social media scheduler for planning, publishing and analysing posts across 12 networks, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky. It suits solo creatoBuying guide · View store →'s help page says automatic publishing only works for Instagram professional (Business or Creator) accounts, and that Story links, Story text or stickers, product tags and music on posts and Stories switch to a "Notify Me" phone reminder. Later offers the same kind of notification publishing for Instagram and TikTok so you can add music and stickers in the app (Later). If your content leans on trending sounds or Story stickers, you'll still be on your phone at 6pm, just with the caption ready.
Annual contracts: why the reviews split
On Trustpilot, Hootsuite scores 1.3 from 556 reviews, Later 1.5 from 351 and Sprout Social 1.9 from 87, and recent reviews are dominated by renewals and refunds. One UK reviewer wrote in March 2026 that they closed their Hootsuite account in 2021 and are still charged £1,200 every year (Trustpilot). A Later reviewer described a $496.35 annual charge after a trial (Trustpilot), and Sprout reviewers describe being held to annual contracts (Trustpilot).
On Capterra UK, where reviews focus on features, all three score 4.4 (Hootsuite, Later, Sprout Social). Trustpilot skews towards complaints, so the split doesn't make these bad tools. It does mean the renewal date belongs in your calendar the day you pay yearly.
The UK angle: dollars, VAT and #ad rules
Prices in dollars and euros. With no pound prices on show, your card charge moves with the exchange rate. BufferBufferBuffer is a social media scheduler for planning, publishing and analysing posts across 12 networks, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky. It suits solo creatoBuying guide · View store → adds UK VAT for consumers and lets VAT-registered businesses use the reverse charge (Buffer); Publer also accepts a VAT ID, and Metricool, SocialBee, Later and Hootsuite quote prices before tax.
Which networks matter. Ofcom found YouTube reaches 94% of UK online adults and Facebook and Messenger 93%, with Instagram at 78%, Reddit at 60% (up 28% in a year) and TikTok at 56% (up 14%), while X fell 13% to 39% and LinkedIn held at 38% (Ofcom Online Nation, May 2025 data). A scheduler is only worth paying for if it covers the networks your customers use.
Ads and affiliate links. Paid, gifted or affiliate posts need a prominent "Ad" label upfront, not buried in hashtags or under "See more", according to the ASA's guidance dated 6 August 2026 (ASA). "Gifted" or "spon" are unlikely to be clear enough, and the ASA's 2026 research found a platform's "Paid partnership" label may not be enough on its own. A sponsored caption written in a scheduler a week ahead wants "Ad" at the very start.
Questions people ask
Is Hootsuite still free?
No. Hootsuite ended its free plan on 31 March 2023, and its cheapest plan is $99 per user a month billed annually in October 2026. Its 14-day trial needs no card.
What is the best free social media scheduler?
BufferBufferBuffer is a social media scheduler for planning, publishing and analysing posts across 12 networks, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky. It suits solo creatoBuying guide · View store →'s free plan covers three channels with 10 queued posts each; Metricool's covers one brand and 20 posts a month with stats, but no LinkedIn or X.
Do scheduled posts get less reach?
There's no platform statement or study either way, only anecdote. In a 2025 r/socialmedia thread, several social media managers said scheduled TikToks did worse than ones posted in the app, while another replied that they'd seen no proof.
Can I schedule Instagram Stories automatically?
Plain Stories, yes, from a professional account, but on Buffer Story links, stickers and music switch to a phone reminder.
Hootsuite or Buffer: which is cheaper?
Buffer, by a long way for a small business: three channels on Essentials cost $180 a year billed yearly, against $1,188 for one user on Hootsuite Standard, both before VAT in October 2026.
Where I'd start
The first question is which networks your customers are on. If it's only Facebook and Instagram, Meta Business Suite already does the job. For a few accounts on more networks, BufferBufferBuffer is a social media scheduler for planning, publishing and analysing posts across 12 networks, including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky. It suits solo creatoBuying guide · View store →'s free plan is the low-risk start, a client who signs off posts points to Publer, and a team that would otherwise pay per person points to PostizPostizPostiz is a social media scheduler that publishes to more than 30 networks from one calendar and lets AI agents such as Claude and ChatGPT draft and schedule posts through its MCP Buying guide · View store →. Whichever it is, I'd pay monthly for the first few months: it costs a little more, and it keeps you clear of the renewals behind most of the complaints above.
More tools are on our social media tools page and in the software section. If clients book calls with you, our guide to Calendly alternatives covers booking links; the best newsletter platforms suit an audience you'd rather own than rent from a feed; and the best to-do list apps keep the rest of the week in order.
